National Geographic moment.
As a scuba diver for many years I have always wanted to have what I call a “National Geographic moment while diving.” I had my moment this past Sunday. No, I wasn’t at some exotic place like Belize or the Caribbean I was in our Gulf waters just 2 miles offshore at Panama City Beach in 60 feet of water.
To start this adventure I need to let you know I had a scuba class of 11 open water students along with my assistant instructor and my newly certified dive master. The captain and I discussed what dive site we need to dive at since half of my class of students where ages 12-14 years old. I didn’t want to have to be concerned with the depth that they where diving so we decided, for the first dive, to go the lost pontoon.
The lost pontoon is in 60 feet of water to the bottom so I didn’t have to be concerned with the kids diving below the 60 foot maximum of their certification depth. The site has several parts of a concrete road bed laid out in several directions. This is a great underwater navigation site to train underwater compass navigation but that’s not why we are here. We are here for the standard open water part of their certification. Along with the road beds there is a rather large round steel structure that is 15 feet in diameter and about 75 to 85 feet in length. At one end at the top of the structure there is a top section that is cut out so you could swim into it but with a little specialized training. This structure is where I had my moment in time that will probably never happen again.
As I made my way to the east end of the pontoon at about 50 feet from the surface I felt what I call a pressure wave of water off my right shoulder and then I felt something hit the top of my right shoulder. I didn’t panic because it shoved me towards the side of the pontoon.
I slowly looked to my right and there was the biggest manta ray I have ever seen in the wild. I slowed my breathing to a slow steady inhale and a very slow and deliberate exhale. I didn’t want to spook this gentle giant that was very curious about me. I didn’t look like a typical diver because of the full face mask that I wear and my breathing is very different than most divers so I don’t exhale a mass of bubbles.
When I say huge I mean the wing tip to tip was approximately 12 foot or bigger, the main body was at least 10 feet to where the tail starts and the tail was at least 10 feet to the barb. She was at least 3-4 feet thick center mass then tapered down to the tip of the wings to about a foot thick.
The best part of this moment is she stopped beside me to where I could have touched her wing tip but I didn’t because I didn’t want to spook her away. She was barely moving her wings to where she was stationary next to me and I could see her looking at me.
We stayed there next to each other for at least 7 minutes then suddenly she flaps those massive wings and she disappears into the murky water. I made my way to the anchor rope for my slow accent to the safety stop then back on the boat. I can only guess that she was taken off course due to the hurricane from southern Florida. I hope she makes it back to her home waters.
Make lots of bubbles.
-Russell Miller #59999
This column originally appeared in October 2022.